As the economy slowly improves, plans to repurpose Motor Row's buildings from their uses in the early part of the last century are resurfacing

A view of Motor Row in the 2200 block of South Michigan Avenue, which could become one of the city's premier entertainment zones and help boost tourism thanks to its proximity to the convention facilities at McCormick Place. (Alex Garcia, Chicago Tribune)

Chicago's convention officials long have dreamed of when historic Motor Row — just west of McCormick Place — could be transformed from its dilapidated state into an entertainment zone where visitors could cap their day with a grilled steak and a sizzling show.

But the collapse of the city's 2016 Olympic bid, which had fueled hopes for the Near South Side, coupled with the flameout of the real estate and lending markets, left development largely dormant along South Michigan and Indiana avenues, between Cermak Road and the Stevenson Expressway.

The malaise left the city at a critical disadvantage to entertainment-laden convention center rivals, both domestically and globally.

When Tony Hu, the city's most prominent Chinese chef, travels to China, for instance, he said convention centers are surrounded by "wonderful restaurants, wonderful bars, wonderful shops."

In contrast, the area around McCormick Place "has been a ghost town," said Chris Schneider, who runs a recording studio and private party venue on Motor Row.

As the economy slowly improves, plans to repurpose Motor Row's buildings from their uses in the early part of the last century are resurfacing. Designed by notable architects, buildings include deep, high-ceiling auto showrooms and facades accented by glazed brick and swirling terra cotta.

Some of the city's prominent restaurateurs — including Chinatown's Hu, Harry Caray's Grant DePorter and The Firehouse's Matthew O'Malley — are weighing redevelopment plans in the compact commercial corridor, which remains pocked with for-lease signs and boarded-up historic hulks. The Rockford-born rock band Cheap Trick is planning a music venue and museum, while neighboring Pressure Point Recording Studios is building its own live music space, to be named "Riff."

A hotelier that operates the historic Pfister in downtown Milwaukee is sizing up an abandoned Cadillac dealership for a boutique hotel directly across from the McCormick Place West Building, while Teatro ZinZanni, a Cirque du Soleil-type dinner theater company, is eyeing a boarded-up showroom next door. Some long-time Chicago Mercantile Exchange traders are financing the launch of Broad Shoulders Brewing, a microbrewery and tasting room, with help from city tax-increment financing.

Meanwhile, real estate/eminent domain attorney Langdon Neal said he has been approaching property owners near McCormick Place over the past 30 days to gauge their interest in selling parcels to the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, the state-city agency that owns the convention center and would like to see more hotel and entertainment offerings nearby. The authority declined to comment.

The Motor Row area is also steeped in the city's blues history as onetime home to Chess Records and other recording studios, and in its Prohibition-era gangster past as the former stomping grounds of Al Capone. It's in the 2nd Ward, whose alderman, Robert Fioretti, reports increasing numbers of inquiries from potential developers.

"It's still very difficult in the financing world out there, but I'm more optimistic than before," he said. "It took awhile to build the universe, but we don't have that much time."

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has turned up the heat on convention officials to regain footing against such entertainment-heavy rivals as Las Vegas and Orlando, Fla. Toward this end, the city last fall rezoned portions of South Michigan and Indiana avenues for entertainment uses. The ordinance prohibits further residential development — with the goal of separating residents who cherish their sleep from future revelers partying into the night.

The CTA plans to build a Green Line "L" station to serve the immediate area; its opening is scheduled for late 2014. And on Friday, Emanuel held a press conference to highlight $65 million in public infrastructure projects planned for the Near South Side, some of which had been announced earlier. The projects include $5.8 million in TIF funds for streetscape improvements on Motor Row, as well as improvements to mass transit, a new Chinatown library branch and expansion of the southern end of Grant Park.

"Those are the types of public investments that will multiply private investment," he said in a later interview.

Like Printers Row in the South Loop and the West Fulton Street market area, Motor Row "has the bones" for redevelopment and should be aided by the influx of residents into the downtown area, he said.

But jump-starting the languishing area will not be easy. A long-running foreclosure battle has stalled potential hotel and entertainment projects on nearby blocks — developments that could provide a much-needed stream of evening visitors. And a stately icon at the south end of Motor Row, the former Chicago Defender building, at one time an exclusive auto club, is in foreclosure and is boarded up.